It was an elite group of eight schools that found happiness at NCAA Selection Show watch parties for volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball in 2017-18, including three ACC teams. Of the eight, Texas lasted the longest in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

The top 15 teams remained the same in the Week 9 AVCA poll, but there were some slight shifts in positioning among those squads. Long Beach State and Hawaii are No. 1 and 2 respectively for the second straight week.

MATCH NOTES

The #18 UCLA Bruins completed a decisive straight-set victory over the host Arizona Wildcats behind another efficient hitting performance by Reily Buechler, who recorded the 1,300th kill of her career during the match.

Buechler notched 15 kills on the night, hitting at a .500 clip. The senior outside has had just two attack errors in her last seven sets. Senior setter Sarah Sponcil tallied 35 assists, setting the Bruins to a .336 hitting percentage, and junior Zana Muno recorded 20 digs to lead UCLA’s back-row defense.

For Arizona, freshman outside Paige Whipple recorded nine kills and 10 digs for the Wildcats, and sophomore setter Julia Patterson also came close to a double-double, registering 28 assists and nine digs.

“If I had felt like we were nervous or tentative or deferring to UCLA, it would have been a much different talk I gave in the post meeting,” said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio, “but I’ve been through it enough times in my coaching career in situations like this that it’s really about the individual development of our players. As they get better the team will get better. If you don’t have the right mindset it doesn’t matter how much talent you have.”

UCLA never trailed in the first two frames and won each by comfortable margins. The second set was the closer of the two, featuring eight ties and a slim 19-17 UCLA lead before the Bruins scored six straight to win 25-17. Buechler had four aces in the second and finished the frame with back-to-back kills. Arizona led 6-4 early in the third before an 8-1 UCLA run put set and match out of reach.

Both teams return to action on Friday, with the Bruins traveling to Tempe to play Arizona State and Arizona hosting USC.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy: UCLA Athletics

#13 Bruins Dominate Arizona in Sweep

TUCSON, Ariz. – Senior Reily Buechler surpassed the 1,300-kill mark on Wednesday night, posting 15 kills and just one error in 28 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage to go with four aces, as the 13th-ranked Bruins swept Arizona at the McKale Center. Set scores were 25-15, 25-17, 25-20.

Buechler, who has just two hitting errors in her last seven sets, has 1,312 kills for her career. Senior Sarah Sponcil had 35 assists and eight digs and set UCLA (10-4, 3-2 Pac-12) to a .336 hitting percentage. Junior Zana Muno recorded 20 digs, sophomore Madeleine Gates and freshman Jenny Mosser both had eight kills, junior Kyra Rogers and freshman Mac May added six kills apiece and sophomore Savvy Simo tallied nine digs.

UCLA didn’t trail in either of the first two sets, scoring five straight and eight of nine to open the match. Buechler had three kills during the 8-1 run, Gates added two kills, May posted a kill and an ace and Arizona had a bad set. The Wildcats (7-7, 1-4 Pac-12) got their deficit as low as five at 11-6, but could get no closer. At 15-8, a 5-1 UCLA run on kills by Rogers, Buechler and May, a May ace and a Sponcil/Gates block gave the visitors a set-best lead of 11 at 20-9, as the Bruins went on to win the first 25-15. Buechler was error-free with four kills in six swings, Gates also had four kills and May and Rogers were each error-free with three kills. The Bruins out-hit the Wildcats .300 to .103. Muno added nine digs and Simo had five.

There were eight ties in the second set, but the Bruins didn’t trail again to go up 2-0 in the match. Arizona was within a few points for the entire set, until at 19-17, the Bruins scored the last six of the second. Buechler scored five of the six on a kill and four aces, including back-to-back to end the set. Buechler and Gates were both 4-for-9 with on errors, while Muno and Sponcil each had four digs, as the Bruins out-hit the Wildcats .353 to .205.

Arizona would take its first lead of the match at 4-3 and held as much as a two-point edge, but at 7-6, an 8-1 UCLA run made it 14-8. Mosser and Rogers each had kills, Muno and Sponcil both served aces and the Wildcats made four errors. The Bruins led by at least three for the rest of the match. At 22-19, UCLA scored three of the last four on a Rogers kill and a solo block and kill by Buechler to win the third 25-20. Buechler added seven more kills in the final set, while Mosser was 5-for-8 with on errors. Muno produced seven digs. The Bruins out-hit the Wildcats .361 to .294.

The Bruins continue their trip to the desert in Tempe on Friday at 8 p.m. The match will air on Pac-12 Networks Los Angeles.

Arizona struggled from the service line in the match; the Wildcats allowed eight UCLA aces while committing eight service errors.

The Bruins hit .336 in the match, while holding UA to a .196 clip. Arizona dropped to 0-7 when being outhit in a match.

Paige Whipple led the Wildcats with nine kills in the match. The freshman, who also had 10 digs, finished one kill shy of a double-double.

Julia Patterson was also near a double-double; the sophomore had 28 assists and nine digs in the match.

Arizona fell to 7-7 (1-4 Pac-12) on the season while the Bruins improved to 10-4 (3-2 Pac-12) on the year.

Set 1: UCLA defeated Arizona 25-15 in the opening set, outhitting the Wildcats .300-.103 in frame.

Set 2: The Bruins broke away late to win the second set, 25-17. UA held tough, but a successful UCLA challenge that turned a 14-14 tie to a 15-13 UCLA lead proved to be the catalyst for the Bruins to turn it around down the stretch.

Set 3: In the third set, Arizona hit .294, but could not slow the Bruins, who hit .361 to sweep the match with a 25-20 victory.

Quotes
Arizona head coach Dave Rubio
On what he said to the team during intermission:
“Last year we found ourselves 2-0 at UCLA, and I told them, it’s not about winning this match, it’s about advancing our game. That’s why the competition is so important to us, whether we win or lose, it’s really not about that. It’s about advancing our game and becoming more skilled and becoming mentally better. To me that’s the most important thing. The skills will follow the brain, and I feel like right because we’re so young and so talented, the skill part is easy to develop, but we really want to develop how good we are mentally and our mindset. I never felt like we were nervous. I never felt like we were scared. I never felt like we were holding back, I never felt any of those things. If I had felt like we were nervous or tentative or deferring to UCLA, it would have been a much different talk I gave in the post meeting, but I’ve been through it enough times in my coaching career in situations like this that it’s really about the individual development of our players. As they get better the team will get better. If you don’t have the right mindset it doesn’t matter how much talent you have.”

Junior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke
On tough Pac-12 conference…
“Playing this tough competition, and being in such a fierce conference, gives us the experience and will help us grow moving forward.”

On the resiliency of the team…
“We focused on that going in. Being able to bounce back from deficits is very important and we worked hard at practice. We struggled with it at times, but we focused on bouncing back and stop the deficit”

Freshman outside hitter Paige Whipple
On the resiliency of the team…
“We have gotten a lot better at trusting each other throughout the season. At the beginning it was rocky because everyone was new on the court. As we’ve played together more, we have built those relationships and it is easier to hold each other accountable. It’s important for me as a freshman to have older girls hold me accountable but also encourage me to develop has helped us stick together”